- "My boy, once you piss off Haruka, nothin’ is gonna save you. Ha ha ha."
- —Seta
Worldly and wise, Haruka Urashima (浦島 はるか Urashima Haruka) is Keitaro Urashima's elder cousin, but he keeps referring to her as "Aunt” possibly due to her seniority and how she was adopted and raised by their grandmother; effectively making her both his cousin and his aunt by technicality.
Appearance
While giving the impression of being coldly detached, Haruka demonstrates a patient tolerance and affection towards the girls of Hinata House and a worldly wisdom that she shares on occasion in the form of advice. A good portion of this wisdom has served to help her cousin, Keitaro Urashima, become settled and accepted by the Hinata residents.
Possessing a smoking habit ever since college, Haruka’s physical prowess and marksmanship with a gun are on par with Seta, with whom she shares a history.
Haruka seems to possess a hidden kinky side, possessing various stylized outfits such as a frilled full-body dress, and, in the anime, a French Maid Uniform, both of which end up being worn by Motoko Aoyama. A bonus art also shows her wearing a nurse outfit. She also possesses and is quite skilled with a whip as well as being skilled enough in a martial art known as Pa Ki Ken to be able to overpower Noriyasu Seta's Jeet Kune Do.
Plot
Early in life, Haruka’s mother, Yoko Urashima, and her father were killed in an accident. As a child Haruka was adopted by her grandmother, Hina Urashima, and lived with her at the Hinata Inn.It was as a teenager that, while working at the inn, she was first called "Aunty Haruka" by her baby cousin Keitaro – the same time that Keitaro first met both Mutsumi and Naru.
Eventually Haruka was accepted into Tokyo University where she met Noriyasu Seta who was also attending the university. Working as his excavation assistant, Haruka fell in love with Seta as the pair travelled across the globe, becoming embroiled in various adventures; however she soon became part of a love triangle with the inclusion of Sarah’s mother.
Seta makes a promise that, by the time he was thirty, he would make up his mind and choose one of them however Sarah’s mother passed away soon after that promise. Their relationship deteriorated soon after and Haruka returned to work at the Hinata Inn, living as the ryōbo ("house-mother") of the Joshi Senyō Ryō Hinata-sō ("Women's Only Dormitory, Hinata House") and running the Wafū Chabō Hinata ("Traditional Japanese Tea-Room Hinata" ) café, while Seta continued his excavations and adventures.
In the time between when Hina left to start her world-wide tour and the day Keitaro Urashima arrived at the apartments, Haruka acted as the dormitory’s landlord and house mother though still operating from the Hinata Café. Passing the title of landlord on to Keitaro upon Hina’s wish, Haruka still acted as house mother, offering advice and an adult prospective when required and handling the office work of the dormitory. Although she normally just stays and watches from the sidelines, unless the girls get too energetic at which time she steps in to calm things down.
During the summer vacation she enlisted the help of Keitaro and the Hinata residents to help run the Beach Café Hinata and enact a play based on the Journey to the West.
Turning thirty, Seta honours his promise and returns to the Hinata House and proposes to Haruka, however Haruka, still sore from the circumstances surrounding the promise, vehemently refuses him and denies any kind of relationship between them. After Naru and Keitaro’s meddling, she at least temporarily accepts his offered ring.
When Keitaro is abducted by Seta to return an artifact to the Kingdom of Molmol, Haruka follows after the Hinata girls who wish to take advantage of a contract by Hina Urashima in a last ditch effort to be wed Keitaro. Arriving at Molmol to discover Keitaro now captured by Kaolla, Haruka joins Seta on his plane and the pair rescue Keitaro and Naru after they parachute from the Amallan Kaollan.
Continuing on Seta’s mission to return the artefact the couples discover the honeymoon capital Todai and reignite their respective relationships.
Now in competition with Naru and Keitaro in finding the Todai ruins, Haruka and Seta make it to ruins first and Seta returns the artefact, fulfilling a years old promise he had made to Sarah’s mother and, with considerable urging from the Hinata group and Kaolla’s people, Haruka and Seta were married in the Todai ruins in Chapter 114.
The following day, Haruka opted to stay with Seta in excavating the ruins while the Hinata girls and Keitaro returned to Hinata to see Hina; passing the running of the Hinata Teahouse to Mutsumi and Mitsune.
Character Design
Haruka changed a lot between her original and final designs. She was initially supposed to be the mother of the spoiled kid that may have been the base of Sarah or Shinobu, but this idea - along with the spoiled kid - was scrapped. She was also supposed to be attending a graduate school and possessed a calm demeanour. The calm demeanour seems to have passed on to the Otohime characters, while she herself became a kind of aloof, though tolerant, character.
Concept Gallery
Gallery
Trivia
- As noted in chapter 5, Haruka’s height is 169cm, her BWH measurements are 85.58.83
- Haruka's height and BWH Measurements are 169cm, B85-W58-H83 as of Chapter 1 and 169cm, B88-W61-H87 as of Chapter 120.
- Much of Haruka’s history is unrevealed, though it is shown that she has some Yakuza-like acquaintances that she called in to help run the Beach Café Hinata.
- While she is generally indifferent to most things, Haruka seems to be actively intimidated by Kanako Urashima, Keitaro’s adoptive sister, in the manga; while in the anime she actively stays out of the younger girl’s way, citing that they “don’t go well together”.
- Keitaro’s engagement ring to Naru (in both the anime and manga) is actually similar in design to Seta’s engagement ring to Haruka.
- According to Love Hina Mugendai, Haruka had a cigarette 222 times throughout the manga's run.
- While their relationship isn’t really covered in the anime, Seta does make mention of a possible location for their honeymoon in the Love Hina Again OVA before Haruka shuts him up.
- Haruka possesses a collection of kimono that she lends to the girls during festivals and special events.
- The brand of cigarette Haruka smokes is Marlbo.
- Haruka's profile of her after the events of Love Hina from Love Hina Mugendai is as follows:
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